Germany reinstates land border checks for six months in much-criticised move

Germany has reinstated border checks at all land crossings on its nine borders to curb migration and tackle crime, according to officials.

Transcript

00:00Rows of German border police cars and vans have been gathering at the border crossing

00:04from Belgium into Germany to carry out passport checks.

00:08The same deployment will be seen at the other eight land borders.

00:12This move came after Germany put a hold on Schengen, which defines the borderless EU

00:17zone among member states.

00:20The goal is to curb migration and protect against the acute dangers posed by Islamist

00:24terrorism and serious crime, said the country's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser last week.

00:29In principle, our measures are designed so that we act in a timely, roomly and flexible

00:35manner, adapting to the situation.

00:36This means that there will not be the same intensity of checks at all times, and in addition

00:42to the checks that we observe at the border line, what we see here in the background,

00:47there are also measures that take place in a border area with a depth of 30 kilometres.

00:51And so it is not to be expected that we are at the same intensity every day at the same

00:57time, but the border checks will be carried out consistently throughout the entire border

01:03area from today onwards.

01:07Controls are planned for six months, but may extend further.

01:11Officials and diplomats in Brussels have expressed dismay, calling the move to be obviously aimed

01:16at a domestic audience.

01:18The new control points are not causing any traffic jams for now, but travellers can still

01:22help speeding up the process by having their travel documents ready before crossing the

01:27German border, as they could face spot checks.